I've heard that he is. Haven't personally spoken with him about it.

 

Outsider looking in, but it seems to me if you did bail on corporate flying to go 121 you would STILL have your type ratings. If 121 went south, limping back to corporate might require freshening up some contacts, etc but you won't have to go out and buy to the type to work your way back in. Because seniority isn't so critical in corporate gigs, the opportunity cost for leaving seems lower.

 

There is a phenomenon known as "airline stink" that supposedly infects those who leave corporate to fly for the airlines (or who have previously flown for the airlines). It is pretty difficult to overcome.

There is a perception among corporate pilots that airline pilots are arrogant prima donnas who are unwilling to go the extra mile to perform the many non-flying functions that corporate pilots do every day. You won't find airline pilots vacuuming the cabin, emptying the wiffy-pot in an old Citation lav, carrying suitcases across a hot ramp. Many corporate pilots are the ones making phone calls to arrange hotels, cars, catering, hangar space, deicing. They often do their own flight planning and performance, weight and balance too. Some airline pilots (admittedly this was the case with me) are uncomfortable with the somewhat haphazard approach to standardization in most corporate flight departments. Even large departments like the one I worked for, although standardized by corporate standards, lacked the strict adherence to profiles, callouts, and checklist etiquette found in airline cockpits.

That leads many pilots to start far too many sentences with "at the airlines we did it THIS way..."

I did it too. It's frustrating to the corporate guys. But the biggest thing is that when airline types are recalled from furlough or the hiring environment improves a lot of times they quit and head back to the comfort of the 121 world. That's sticks the corporate department with the check for that $15,000+ type rating that they just paid for a few years back. After a while they think, "why hire some airline guy who is going to **** and moan the whole time about how we do things and then leave in a few years and I have to buy another new guy a type rating?"

So airline stink is a problem for folks who would like to give 121 a try and then head back to 91/135.

That was one of the things I considered carefully before I decided to return to 121. I knew that if I made that leap, ever going back to corporate again would be difficult or impossible. Corporate flying and airline flying are cousins, but the job could not be more different, and the barriers to entry reflect that.

 

Very well said, Zap, except for $15,000 type ratings, more like $30,000 to $60,000 nowadays.

GF

 

Zap....there are many great pilots in the 121, 135 and 91 world. But many differences between them all.
One must remember that "flying" the airplane 121 style won't cut it in the 91/135 world.

The corporate world won't tolerate the fly me like you stole me attitude. I type this as the AA capt who is taking the J loop at DFW just moved me from 14 B to the aisle.

 

I have some 91 experience in a Learjet 45 that suggests otherwise....

 

Data point:
Just got back from Flightsafety getting a 2EASY type. 5 of us in class. All of us work for very good fortune 200 companies. 3 departments represented. Collectively, the 3 companies lost 6 pilots to the 121 world in the last 6 months.

 

And FSI lost 7 instructors and check airman at the Net Jets Columbus facility recently. XOJet is losing pilots rapidly. The deluge is on.

GF

 

I know a guy (Corporate) that was recently offered a class date with FedEx. His employer responded with a significant raise as well as some other improvements to keep him. I've actually heard of a couple of stories like this recently - as well as corporate guys bailing for the airlines regardless of any counter offer from their employer. Hopefully this continues to put upward pressure on corporate salaries.

 

I've definitely heard of this happening in the business world, and I've had close friends that this has happened to, but not in corporate aviation. I think that's because for the last 20+ years, it's been an employers market, not a pilots market, although that is changing. Both Fortune 250 companies I've worked for would say, to me or any other pilot in the department, "ok, see you later", without the slightest hesitation, even after 8-9 years of solid employment, good standing and with excellent service from me. I think you'd maybe be more inclined to see counter-offers from private and or family transportation flight departments, than Fortune 500 departments. Wish it wasn't that way, but it is, and has been for me.